As reported by Stefan Bondy and Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News, unvaccinated baseball players are ineligible to play home games during the 2022 baseball season. While the focus has understandably been on the New York Mets and New York Yankees, the policy will also impact the Brooklyn Cyclones.

Under the New York City vaccinate mandate put in place under former Mayor Bill DeBlasio, if a private sector employee is not vaccinated, they are not permitted to go to work. It is a rule which has impacted Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets, and it is a rule which will be in force for the Brooklyn Cyclones even though Maimonides Park is an outdoor facility.

The Mets organization has not commented on the policy. However, it should be noted there were reports the Mets did not hire Brian Butterfield to be Buck Showalter‘s bench coach because Butterfield was not vaccinated.

The Nets and Irving have been lobbying current Mayor Eric Adams to lift the mandate. As noted in the New York Daily News article, they will be joined in those efforts by the Yankees who said “On behalf of the Yankees, Randy Levine is working with City Hall and all other appropriate officials on this matter.”

An interesting tidbit here is the vaccination policy is not enforced on visiting teams. As a result, it is theoretically possible for unvaccinated visiting players to play against the Cyclones while the unvaccinated Cyclones players would not even be permitted on the premises.

It should also be noted this is strictly a New York City mandate. There is currently no State of New York, Broome County, or City of Binghamton COVID vaccine mandate which would impact players for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Of note, Major League Baseball has not instituted a COVID vaccine mandate for minor league players. At this moment, it is not known which minor leaguers who could potentially be assigned to the Cyclones have been vaccinated. At this moment, it is not known whether players vaccination status will have an impact on which Mets affiliate they will be assigned to for the 2022 season.